Category: politics

Return to Sender – Official Trailer

I am thrilled to share the trailer for Return to Sender: Women of Color in Colonial Postcards & the Politics of Representation. It’s a short film that explores Orientalist images of Indian women, circulated as postcards, during the British Raj. It opens up a conversation about objectification, beauty standards, identity, the colonial male gaze, and otherness. The film will premiere on Oct 1st at Cinema Arts Centre in Huntington, NY, and will be followed by a community discussion. Thank you Dylan Toombs and Boris Sapozhnikov for this beautiful footage and Fatimah Arshad, Urvashi Bhattacharya and Sumayia Islam for your brilliant convo and performance in the film. We are almost done with color grading and graphics (thank you Rajesh Barnabas) and are getting ready for sound engineering. Thank you Patty Eljaiek, the Huntington Arts Council, Inc., Stephanie Godard, and the Huntington Historical Society for all your amazing support with this project!

This project is made possible with funds from the Statewide Community Regrant Program, a regrant program of the New York State Council on the Arts with the support of the Office of the Governor and the New York State Legislature and administered by The Huntington Arts Council, Inc.

all human lives are not equal

fortress europe’s racism and contempt for human life shouldn’t shock us anymore. but it does. more than 700 people – including children – might have drowned in the mediterranean sea. many pakistanis were forced below deck. cannot imagine the horror and grief of their families. all this criminal neglect and inhumanity while rescuers ‘race against time’ and ‘massive search and rescue’ missions are underway to find 5 hyper rich people checking out the titanic’s wreckage. the contrast is obscene.

History is like an old house at night

He explained to them that history was like an old house at night. With all the lamps lit. And ancestors whispering inside. “To understand history,” Chacko said, “we have to go inside and listen to what they’re saying. And look at the books and the pictures on the wall. And smell the smells.”

“But we can’t go in,” Chacko explained, “because we’ve been locked out. And when we look in through the windows, all we see are shadows. And when we try and listen, all we hear is a whispering. And we cannot understand the whispering, because our minds have been invaded by a war. A war that we have won and lost. The very worst sort of war. A war that captures dreams and re-dreams them. A war that has made us adore our conquerors and despise ourselves.”

—Arundhati Roy in ‘The God of Small Things’

A Thin Wall in Winnipeg

More wonderful news! A Thin Wall, my film about the partition of India co-produced by Surbhi Dewan and myself, will be screened this Saturday in Winnipeg, Canada:
The Kohinoor Collective presents Winnipeg’s first Punjabi Film Festival, featuring films about Punjabi histories, politics, and diasporas. Funding for the Punjabi Film Festival is provided by the Manitoba Arts Council and University of Manitoba Community Engagement/Prairie Asian Organizers.
A Thin Wall will be screened on Sat Jun 17 2023 at 05:15 pm and will be followed by a discussion. You can buy tickets online and then head to the Dave Barber Cinematheque in Winnipeg.

Havah…to breathe, air, life

Thrilled to finally see Shahzia Sikander’s ‘Havah…to breathe, air, life’ in Madison Square Park. The genius and beauty of her work are always breathtaking.

‘In the park, Sikander places a monumental female figure that teems with symbolic imagery, titled Witness. Wearing a hoop skirt inspired by the courtroom’s stained-glass ceiling dome and detailed with mosaic, the figure’s arms and lower legs swirl into a decorative motif suggesting tree roots, a reference to what the artist has called the “self-rootedness of the female form; it can carry its roots wherever it goes.” The figure’s hair is braided to resemble a ram’s horns, identified in Eastern and Western traditions as a symbol of strength.’

‘Atop the historic Courthouse, NOW, another female figure—similar in form to the sculpture in the park, but without the embellished skirt—arises from a colorful lotus, a symbol of wisdom. The work’s connection with the Courthouse is imbued with meaning as the building’s rooftop is crowned by plinths inhabited by statues of nine historic and religious male legislators, including Confucius, Justinian, Lycurgus, Moses, and Zoroaster—but without a single woman represented atop a plinth until Sikander’s installation. Sikander’s work both physically and symbolically elevates the female figure, putting her on level plane with the traditionally patriarchal embodiments of justice and power.’

Return our stuff

“I want Africanist anthropologists to write about the coronation in England in the same ethnographic language they use to write about African cultural practices.

You watch this spectacle in England celebrating one of the most vicious and genocidal empires and you wonder if there will ever be justice in this world.”
—JP@grosmorne29 on Twitter

BTW the pendant in the necklace worn by all British queens at their coronation since Victoria, was stolen from Lahore (my city of birth) along with everything else in the Lahore treasury. It’s called the Lahore diamond. An apt symbol of how most European wealth (remember the Golden Age or la Belle Epoque?) comes from looting, whether it be piracy, slavery or colonialism.

Make a difference

Dear all, we often talk about what we can do to support anti-colonial struggles and further movements for justice. Here is an easy and direct way.

Lift the voices of Palestinian artists/filmmakers and educate audiences worldwide on the subject of Palestine — support the Palestinian Film Festival Amsterdam (PFFA).

This year the festival will commemorate 75 years of the Nakba, the Great Catastrophe, which saw the mass expulsion of indigenous Palestinians in 1948.

The founder of the festival, my dear friend Nihal Rabbani, has applied to the Amsterdam Fund For The Arts for most of the funding, but 25% of the festival’s budget still needs to be raised in order to cover essential costs. Even if you donate the minimum amount of €10, it will help.

Pls share widely on social media and within your network. Thank you.

APAA exhibit at city hall

i am so honored to be part of the asian pacific islander american association of greater rochester’s 2023 pioneers, innovators, and entrepreneurs exhibit at rochester city hall. the exhibition is curated by the wonderful Mimi Lee and Lily Lee and will be on display until may 31st. thank u dearest Debora McDell Hernandez for taking this picture and for being honored as ally and friend of the APAA community <3

my review: joyland

finally saw joyland, the pakistani film that has taken international festivals and audiences by storm. it’s an unflinching study of the quiet horrors of heteropatriarchy – its rigid roles and antiquated hierarchies (that revolve around ridiculous notions of masculinity), its antilife rules and strictures, claustrophobia and mendacity.

yet with its vibrant ensemble cast, snappy writing, and intimate cinematography, the film is also filled with flashes of love, hope and human connection. it shows people who are desperately lost but also the grit and audacity it takes to have sovereignty over one’s life and body.

it’s a heartbreaking reminder that all of us need to be seen. even those of us who seem to be the strongest, the most reliable and least demanding, can break delicately once they become invisible.

Hopeful Art & Artful Hope

So energizing to be part of the Artists Round Table today and talk about Hopeful Art & Artful Hope. The convo was moderated by the wonderful Gabrielle Javier-Cerulli and I learned so much about the work of amazing artists/activists like Michaela Oteri, TL Luke, Kristy Lisle, Kierston Ghaznavi, Yvette Pino, and Della Wells. From important struggles such as disability and reproductive rights, to representations of Black women in art and culture, to body types and using art to talk about politics, I felt like I was surrounded/sustained by artists using their art to challenge and enlighten.

The Women’s & Gender Studies Conference ‘Sustaining Hope: Feminisms, Freedom, and the Future’ is happening virtually for one last day tomorrow, April 15th.

It’s organized by the University of Wisconsin-Madison and held under the auspices of the UNESCO Chair on Gender, Wellbeing and a Culture of Peace as part of a global UN platform. It is free.

You can register here. And don’t forget to check out the artwork under ‘Artist Exhibition 2023.’

[Artwork by Gabrielle Javier-Cerulli]

nick cave at the goog

everyone has seen nick cave’s famous soundsuits, but did u know he designed his first suit out of twigs after rodney king was violently beaten by police in 1991?

he has created more than 500 suits since. they have grown alongside his practice, evolving from a form of protective layer (that covers/hides the body) to an expression of confidence and exuberance pushing the limits of visibility.

in his work, cave uses everyday, found objects and racist memorabilia. he doesn’t believe that this history should be erased. he repurposes such ‘relics’ – taking them out of circulation and giving them new meaning.

it’s difficult to look at these objects. for example, the awful spittoon at the center of ‘sea sick’ does in fact induce nausea.

his mixed media sculptures look like soft fur, but in reality the patterns are painted on short, sharp wire fragments. the designs represent a layered cartography of cataclysmic weather patterns on top of brain scans of young black people suffering from ptsd as a result of gun violence.

that’s the remarkable thing about cave’s work – his art is harsh, abrasive, and contains an incredibly violent history, but it’s also gorgeous. at first glance, his work seems simple, joyous, full of color, sparkles and flowers, but it is also unsettling, complex, disturbing.

there was a line written on one of the walls at the goog which hit me hard. it said something like:

if we can turn junk into art, what grace can we extend to people who are most devalued by society?

Women’s & Gender Studies Consortium

I am super excited to be a part of the Women’s & Gender Studies Consortium ‘Sustaining Hope: Feminisms, Freedom, and the Future’ happening completely virtually, April 13-15. I will participate in the Artists’ Round Table on April 14th – starts at 3:30pm CTS (4:30pm EST).

This conference, organized by the University of Wisconsin-Madison and held under the auspices of the UNESCO Chair on Gender, Wellbeing and a Culture of Peace as part of a global UN platform, is free.

You can register here and you can look at the conference schedule here.

You can also check out at my artist page. Hope you can join us!

a rough cut for ‘return to sender’

my short film, return to sender (about colonial postcards and orientalist representations of women from the colonies), is coming along well! i have a rough cut and have received feedback from women friends/filmmakers i’ve trusted for decades. thank u cat ashworth, surbhi dewan, nancy ghertner, kate kressmann-kehoe, and linda moroney. i also got permissions from publishing houses and insightful scholars to quote their work. most of all, i’m blown away, once again, by the sharp analysis and complete honesty of the three women who are at the center of the film. thank u Fatimah Arshad, Urvashi Bhattacharya and Sumayia Islam for ur brilliance and beauty <3

[photo: urvashi bhattacharya in ‘return to sender,’ photographed by mara ahmed]

This project is made possible with funds from the Statewide Community Regrant Program, a regrant program of the New York State Council on the Arts with the support of the Office of the Governor and the New York State Legislature and administered by The Huntington Arts Council, Inc.